News — Maine

Nurses at Mount Desert Island Hospital have struggled since 2004 to make new technology a safe and effective tool to enhance patient care. But management has not taken the nurses seriously when they reported “near misses” with medications. Due to the nurses’ diligence, a new group of remote pharmacists have been employed, and so far, the mistake rate has declined.
—Cokie Giles, RN, President of the Maine State Nurses Association / Mount Desert Islander, 02/13/15 More »

Nurses in at least 14 states and the District of Columbia plan strikes and a national day of action to protest for better patient care and Ebola preparedness on November 11 and 12, according to a statement from National Nurses United (NNU), a nursing union with 155,000 members. —Troy Brown, RN; Medscape Medical News, 11/05/14 More »

PORTLAND, Maine — A Portland woman is joining a national contingent of nurses on a relief trip to the Philippines, an island country still recovering from the deadliest typhoon ever to strike it. Typhoon Haiyan, reportedly the strongest such storm to ever make landfall, hit the Southeast Asian country early last month, killing nearly 6,000 people. —The Bangor Daily News, 12/09/13 More »

Before Saiyid Brent stopped in for a free basic health screening in Portland Monday night, his thoughts were on dinner - specifically, comfort food. But that changed after he was examined by a nurse. His prognosis? "Not so well!" he says, with a laugh. "My blood sugar was pretty good, but blood pressure not so great, which is a concern." —Maine Public Broadcasting Network, 10/16/13 More »

Liz Faraci, a nurse with Downeast Community Hospital in Machias, gets ready for patients Monday afternoon at Portland's First Parish Church. The Maine State Nurses Association held free health screenings Monday at the historic church to raise awareness for its efforts to push for an expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans. —Bangor Daily News, 10/15/13 More »

Many conservatives still characterize Medicaid as “welfare,” and many think of it as such. Presumably other types of health care coverage have been “earned” (think veterans and the military, highly paid executives, union members and congressional staff). We resent our tax dollars going to “freeloaders.” Until the slicing and dicing is ended, the finger pointing, blame shifting and their attendant political wars will continue. —Portside.org, 06/25/13 More »

BANGOR, Maine — A report released Wednesday by a labor group contends that nurse understaffing is having a negative effect on patient care at Eastern Maine Medical Center, but EMMC officials question the report’s sourcing, data and timeliness.
The report, presented by the Worker Rights Board of Eastern Maine during a press conference Wednesday morning at the Bangor Public Library, says that: —Bangor Daily News, 10/11/12 More »

The Eastern Maine Medical Center nurses contract fight is about more than just winning a good contract for our members. When a nurse has 16 hours of work to complete in a 12 hour period of time, her work can’t be left for tomorrow. This is the struggle our nurses face on a day-to-day basis. As patients come to us sicker, with more needs, and as responsibilities increase, staffing levels remain inadequate and uncertain. —Bangor Daily News, 05/30/12 More »

The disrespect Eastern Maine Medical Center Board Chairman Mike McInnis shows in his March 19 commentary toward nurses who have devoted years of service to our patients and our community, and his dismissive tone about our serious concerns about patient safety, demonstrates why we continue to have a dispute at EMMC.
—Bangor Daily News, 04/15/11 More »

AUGUSTA, Maine — Hundreds of public employees, retirees and union members have gathered at the State House for the first day of hearings on the portions of Gov. Paul LePage’s budget that affect state workers.
Testifying at around 12:30 p.m., LePage said there are currently more than 52,000 current retirees or state workers eligible for retirement within the next decade. —Bangor Daily News, 03/02/11 More »

Nurses from EMMC have had to strike over patient safety and safe staffing — so why haven’t EMMC and the EMHS board of directors listened? For the past eight months we’ve had hundreds of nurses telling the community that because of staffing shortages, nurses at EMCC cannot consistently provide their patients adequate care. —Bangor Daily News, 02/22/11 More »

Off-duty registered nurses covered by the union contract at Eastern Maine Medical Center picketed the hospital Monday. The purpose of the demonstration was "informational," according to Vanessa Sylvester of the Maine State Nurses Association, intended to raise public awareness of ongoing contract negotiations between the nurses and the hospital administration. —Bangor Daily News, 10/10/10 More »